Sunday, September 29, 2013

If you're a cook, there are probably any number of people who helped shape your cooking chops. There's family, of course - grandmother, mother, father, etc. And there are probably some TV personalities too; I always loved watching Julia, Jacques, Pierre, Graham, Jeff, James, Yan, etc. Nowadays, god forbid, it's Rachael and Guy, but that's another complaint and another post, and if they're shaping your cooking chops, maybe you should be, I dunno, drinking?

And then there are the cookbooks and their authors. When I started cooking (I mean, other than helping my mother bake cakes and making scrambled eggs and stuff when I was 7), I took some cooking classes and I taught myself by buying and reading cook books. One of the first, if not the first Italian cookbook that I bought, read and studied was The Classic Italian Cook Book. Released in 1973, I read it cover to cover, many times over. I still turn to it, for inspiration, guidance and just because it's a great read. I mean, look at these lines from the preface:

Nothing significant exists under Italy's sun that is not touched by art. Its food is twice blessed because it is the product of two arts, the art of cooking and the art of eating. The art of cooking produces the dishes, but it is the art of eating that transforms them into a meal.

Marcella Hazan passed away this morning at the age of 90 (and if that's not an endorsement for the art of eating well, I don't know what is), and the world of cooking has lost one of its greats.

Monday, September 23, 2013

You know that old saying: "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade...?" Anyone who knows me knows that that is pretty much the life philosophy I follow on a daily basis...I never let anything aggravate me because really, what's the point? Complain - you'll never hear a complaint from me. Bitch and moan? You've got the wrong guy.

OK - now that that's out of the way, back to lemons and lemonade. Or in this case...

And...

Yep - tomatoes and corn, because that's what I found when I rode up to the green market on Friday morning. The green market is great this time of year...there's still plenty of summer's bounty (see above) and the fall fruits and vegetables are showing up. The same guy with those weird looking tomatoes also had this...

This farmer is all about trying to grow vegetables (in Roscoe, NY) similar to those grown around Naples and Mt. Vesuvius. More power to him. Spigarelli is a cultivar of broccoli rabe - the leaves excellent braised with garlic and red pepper flakes.

And what about the corn and tomatoes? Simple - I scraped the corn off the cob and sautéed it in some olive oil and garlic, cut up a few heirloom cherry/grape tomatoes, and then tossed the whole lot with orzo pasta and a few handfuls of freshly grated parmesan...

It wasn't lemonade, but as Significant Eater declared: "This is delicious!"

Bring salted water to a boil. Cook orzo. At the same time, gently heat the garlic in the olive oil in a frying pan. Throw corn in as orzo approaches doneness, then drain orzo (by now you know to save at least a cup of pasta water, right?) and throw orzo into the pan along with tomatoes and parsley. Turn off heat and start adding cheese and a bit of pasta water and tossing. Taste for doneness and seasoning. Keep going till it tastes right and the pasta is barely al dente. Serves 2 hungry peeps.

Monday, September 16, 2013

It goes something like this, the scene at an L.A. restaurant on the boulevard...

Waiter: "What will you be having, sir?"

Alvy (looking sorta askance at the menu): "I'll have the alfalfa sprouts and mashed yeast."

I'm sure you know that's from one of Woody Allen's finest movies, Annie Hall, and if you've never seen it, just...oy. C'mon - it won 4 Oscars including best picture, best director and best actress. See it sometime.

Where does that bring me? Oh yeah, Dimes, a cute brand-spanking-new little place that hovers at the triangle formed where Division meets Canal - the lower, lower east side - aka Chinatown. There's the requisite semi-legal bus stop, a newly opened tattoo parlor right next door (the neighborhood's happening like crazy right now) and also some scaffolding - why not...

That's Daredevil Tattoo under the Lipton Eyecare sign, and I hope they keep that sign for old time's sake. Dime's tiny (like 18 seats tiny) storefront is a little further up Division, at 143...

Back to Woody, Annie Hall, and that L.A. California scene. When I first looked at Dimes' menu, I thought of the alfalfa sprouts/mashed yeast line, as stuff like herbed barley, spiced quinoa, chia seeds, acai bowls and wilted kale all appear. I said to Significant Eater as we decided at our tiny two-top: this place could be on Potrero Hill in San Francisco just as comfortably as it sits on Division...which is fine by me.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I dug a little deeper into the menu - there's bacon and sausage to be found, and breakfast is served all day. The breakfast sandwich the guy at the next table had looked good - and in my future - but today we were having lunch. Sig Eater wanted the chilled noodles with that wilted kale plus eggplant, mango, chili, basil and for a supplement of $2, a hard-boiled egg...

It hit the spot, and $2 for that perfectly cooked egg is ok by me. Both the bowls and The Big Salad are available vegetarian like, or you can pick a protein to add to your what-starts-out-as-vegetarian bowl and make it even better. Another protein (yes, it's a menu category) available yesterday was house-pickled salmon, with cucumber and a green-grape jalapeño relish. It actually rocked...

I paired the salmon with one of their two tartines; an almost-a-puree of spicy beet spread atop some good toasted bread and topped with slices of that perfect hard boiled egg, dill and microgreens. Calling Annie!

To drink, a cayenne lemonade, good for the sinuses I kept telling myself...it was spicy hot but it could've been a little lemony-er and a little sweeter too. Much better was Sig Eater's perfect cold-brew, made from Cafe Integral's tasty Nicaraguan beans. A brown-sugar cube (demerara, of course) at the bottom and you're having a coffee old-fashioned.

I love this place. It's practically across the street. Can't wait to go back to try that breakfast sandwich, and they have a lunch set priced at $12.50 - pick a protein and two of their 3 daily vegetable offerings. Friday they were doing a brisk take-out biz, and Saturday they were packed when we walked by going to and from NY Noodletown - hey, a guy's gotta have his roast pork too, you know.

Go? I don't think there's a need to rush because I'm sure they're gonna be here for a long time. For us, on the lower, lower east side, Dimes is just what the neighborhood ordered.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Yom Kippur was yesterday. Started at sundown Friday and over at sundown Saturday. And now today, in prep for Sukkot which starts in about 4 days, the lulav and ethrog sellers are out in force at the junction of Canal/Essex/E Broadway, formerly the ethrog center of NYC...

I like it because it's like a mad bazaar. And I like it because it so showcases the old and the new, or to quote a famous comic, the battle of the ancient cultures...

Monday, September 9, 2013

The end of summer (aka Labor Day) can mean different things to different people. As a kid, I hated it because it meant school was starting. And even though I'm not a fan of the heat of summer, I was always less of a fan of the start of school. You pick your poison, you know?

To the people on Cape Cod, I think Labor Day means the end of tourist season. Or so they hope; because as the local woman of a certain age who came into the Chatham Pier Fish Market muttered when she saw the line to grab lunch : "Labor Day's Ovah. I'm goin' home to watch the Sox - gimme a pound 'o haddock!"

She got her haddock, and we got our lobster rolls and clam chowder...

Which, having just arrived in Chatham, were just what we wanted. The chowder was superb, full of big meaty clams and the lobster roll was loaded with beautifully cooked lobster - though they should change the roll they use and stop with the lettuce and so much celery already.

Oh, yeah - Chatham. We were lucky enough to be invited up to Beth and Jack's, which is right up the block from the pier; Jack's a relative of a relative of a relative of mine (OK - Sig Eater's niece's husband's dad), and he and Beth are wonderful hosts who love to entertain in their small home...

These days Jack might be out on the water aboard his 28-footer looking for fish...

Because he's a licensed captain starting a little business, called Roil Blue Charters, and if you're ever in the mood to catch some stripers, this gentleman knows just where to find 'em. When the five of us headed out (3 for pleasure and Jack and me for fishing), I don't know if Significant Eater was particularly thrilled...

Though she hung in like a trooper. It was only a little rough heading through the cut to the Atlantic, but once out it was smooth as glass. My first catch was a dogfish shark, released because they're evidently a pain in the ass to prep, even though they're good eating. I mean, Alder serves it in their fish and chips, and they're abundant as this boat unloading them at Chatham Pier proves...

Next I caught a blue, which many people don't like for eating. What do they know? As Cap'n. Jack knows, if you bleed it and ice it immediately and then grill it - it's delicious. Finally, when the tide was right, it was on to the stripers. It can be a little bloody...

But there really is no feeling like hooking your first striped bass. And after we caught a few, including 3 keepers, we just had to show 'em off. It's why you go fishing, no?

Well, that...and the eating. Nothing quite like striped bass fillets, simply pan fried, delicate and meaty at the same time. Or collar, salted and grilled.

The ride back in past a marker...

With these guys (when they're not keeping an eye out for great whites) looking for a handout...

And these guys, because once you've caught a fish...

Jack and Beth want to make this an annual event. With Shivery and Swayze and Sig Eater and me. And others. Who am I to argue? Even if we don't catch any fish, it'll be a great time. And there's always the Lazy Lobster, Chatham's best breakfast and lunch joint. Try the house-made corned beef hash...

And if there's a line to get in (there will be), please step aside and get out of the way - after all, Labor Day's Ovah.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

It might've been fun if I'd been able to title this blog post "Nightmare on Elm Street." But then again, since it's been almost two months since The Elm opened, that would've already been used. And even though it's sometimes hard to come up with titles to blog posts, it's not true. What is true is that The Elm is damn good - even to someone like me, who often finds food as art kinda hard to digest.

First, have a look at the titles of a few of the blogs I read regularly:

See what I mean? But back to The Elm, Paul Liebrandt's new restaurant in the King & Grove Hotel. As mentioned above, it's been open less than 2 months. And in a couple of meals there, I've seen and tasted a good chunk of the menu, and even though it is art on a plate, I liked it just fine.

Last week, Significant Eater and I started with a pre-dinner drink at the bar, and her Charred Lime Mojito, made with 8-year Barbancourt, hit the spot on a really hot night. Moving to our table, we shared our "first course" (because who really knows what a course is these day? - the menu is divided into Raw, Sea, Land and Share - so you tell me), which was Kanpachi "Jamon," the fish cured for 24 hours, and served mixed in with watermelon and heirloom tomatoes...

Oh, the bread they serve is delicious too...

And they were perfectly happy to refill with a second serving. On to our appetizer course, Sig Eater had the Gnudi, a perfectly seared scallop served in a pool of tom yum broth, with tiny little gnudi floating around. Wow...

I had to have the Swiss Chard Agnolotti, because the first time I had it, by the time the plate was passed to me there was nothing left. Of course, it's not just agnolotti, but a sweet corn broth laced with lobster and shisito peppers...

They grate some 5-year old (i.e. pretty intense) cheese over this dish at table, and I still can't figure out if it adds or detracts from the lobster, but I'd eat it again in a second.

Our mains were next up, and Sig Eater didn't love her lamb dish - lamb neck can tend to be pretty fatty, and this was. The charred eggplant served alongside literally tastes like it came right out of a fire, so if you like baba ghanoush to the 10th power, please order this dish. My slow-roasted duck with pickled plum, on the other hand, is something I'd order every time (and I have no idea what I did to this pic)...

There's usually a time during the meal when the picture taking stops. Either it's too much of a distraction because you just want to eat, the old man might've had a little too much wine, the food's not worth it, etc. So while we loved our cheese and dessert courses (especially the roasted peach ice cream), there are no pictures to post. A quick shot of the mignardises was necessary if only because of their simple plating after all that art...

Liebrandt's a highly regarded chef in this city, and deservedly so. The Elm is serving, at reasonable prices, some of the best French-influenced food around, and is easily one of the top 2 or 3 restaurants to open this year. There is plenty of consternation on food boards and blogs alike as to whether PL will be in the kitchen for long, as there are other projects in the works. There's also the question of pricing and whether it will remain this friendly for long. So there are plenty of reasons to try it - and soon.

Oh - one of the best food bloggers/photographers around was there the night we were; taking pix, schmoozing a bit with chef, getting stuff that I don't think was on the menu, etc. Take a look at his drool- worthy shots - I do all the time...